Posted on 01/23/2020 10:32:52 AM PST by SeekAndFind
OVID, MI — When Howard Kirby returned more than $43,000 in cash he found in a couch cushion he bought at a thrift store, the mid-Michigan man said he didn’t want attention or expect a reward.
But doing the right thing has touched others who are now helping Kirby with his needs.
The Saginaw branch of Eikenhout Building Supplies is donating the materials needed to give Kirby’s home a new roof and a local contractor has volunteered to fix it, Kirby said Wednesday, Jan. 22.
A GoFundMe page in support of Kirby has so far, raised more than $2,200 as of Wednesday afternoon.
“I don’t know how to say it, I’m blessed,” Kirby said. “I’m blessed beyond words.”
Thankful
Kirby lives in Ovid, a small city about 10 miles west of Owosso, with his eldest son Ben, daughter-in-law Diane and a menagerie of their pets: a dog and six cats. He’s almost a year into full retirement after a career in floor maintenance with Walmart.
The old set of furniture he purchased for $70 at a Habitat for Humanity Restore is spread across his basement. His cat Misty relaxes on the same cushion Diane found the cash inside, stuffed into two envelopes.
The last few years haven’t been kind to Kirby and his family. Ben lost his job, causing his family to move in. Kirby himself went through a divorce and a cousin he was very close to died suddenly from cancer this time last year, not long after he dodged a tumor of his own when he had a kidney removed.
Finding the cash inside the old couch was surreal for Diane. She could barely find words other than “Dad, money!” Both Ben and Howard thought she was talking about Monopoly money at first, she said. It could’ve done wonders for their house, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t Kirby’s money and he knew he wanted to do the right thing.
“Being a born-again Christian, Christ in me is the one that actually gave the money back,” Kirby said. “Remember the bracelets, WWJD? Well, that’s what Jesus would do.”
Since the news of what happened spread, he’s gotten an outpouring of support. On top of the free roof and GoFundMe, he’s received texts from strangers who say he’s encouraged them to do good, he said.
The family he returned the money to had donated the couch after their grandfather had died. They took him out to dinner recently, he said, and also want to do something to repay him.
“There is so much thankfulness, it boggles my mind sometimes what is happening for me,” Kirby said. “I’m just amazed by it."
Kirby said he’s trying his best not to “get a big head” over the situation, insisting all the credit belongs with Christ.
“I have had so much peace, so much joy because I did do it, that $43,000 never could buy that much joy or peace or happiness," Kirby said.
Inspired
John Conversa, the branch manager for Eikenhout Saginaw, said Eikenhout’s owners are faith-based and like to help people when it’s warranted. Hearing of Kirby’s story, they wanted to help solve his needs to reward his honesty, he said. The roof work will begin in about a week, depending on the weather, Conversa said.
“We’re not doing it so much for a PR thing, we want to promote these kind of actions that he did,” Conversa said. “There’s not very many people nowadays who are upstanding like that. It’s a good thing for our employees to see that.”
Jay Tyrrell, a resident of Ancaster, Ontario, started the GoFundMe fundraiser after being inspired by Kirby.
“It shows that there’s still good people out there," Tyrrell said. “It’s been very inspiring. I hope that his actions will have other people kind of look at their own lives and think about how they can be better members of society... can get inspired to do the right thing.”
I’d have to re read but I thought $ went into couch by grandpa of donors? They’d sort of have a hereditary claim if that were the case. But you do have a plausible lawyersque argument either way.
I had a relative who was a hoarder.
While cleaning her house, we found stock certificates, dividend checks, various uncashed checks, and cash hidden among piles of old newspapers that were stacked to the ceiling. We retrieved stacks we’d already tossed in the dumpster & went thru them again, shaking out every newspaper. We found an additional $3000 we’d originally missed.
Jewelry was in coffee cans in the pantry and in the freezer. Inside a locked, rusty old filing cabinet were sterling silver flatware, more stock certificates, sacks of old coins, and patents granted for items she’d invented, but never marketed.
These findings prompted us to take a second look at every. single. thing in her house. Knicknacks, kewpie dolls, figurines, vases, china— it turns out— have manufacturers’ markings on them which can easily be looked up on the internet to determine their value to collectors, and there are online sites for buyers & sellers of collectibles.
A lot of that stuff we thought was 25 cent yard sale crap turned out to be worth big bucks.
How were they stupid? Couch was grandad's and he stashed it in a cushion unbeknownst to them.
Sorry. I was speaking in generalities. “such people”.
I’m in agreement with others that Kirby had no moral or legal reason to turn that money over to the family.
The couch came from Habitat for Humanity. He could have easily donated the money back to that charity.
Survival of the fittest, right?
No.
Finders Keepers.
That’ll teach em!
When I was about 12, my widowed grandmother remarried a widower named Bill.
I remember hearing stories of my mom and her sisters helping Bill clean out his house and finding thousands his late wife had stashed.
I found this video recently about a antique dealer who bought a hoarders house and found much the same.
Part 1. We bought a hoarded house! 100 years of stuff! what will we find???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb4SpyeH5IQ
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